Pantlaza, Sun Favored vs Pako & Haldan vs Gitrog vs Francisco, Fowl Marauder & thrasios cEDH Gamepla

Deck Strategies

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  Francisco, Fowl Marauder & Thrasios, Triton Hero

  A blue-black-green value and reanimation deck focused on card advantage through spells like Necropotence, leveraging reanimation targets such as Walking Ballista and Soul-Guide Lantern alongside incremental value creatures to overwhelm opponents.

• 

  The Gitrog Monster

  A dredge and land-interaction deck that exploits land drops and graveyard synergies to draw cards and generate engine value, aiming to win through land-based combos and continuous card advantage.

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  Pantlaza, Sun-Favored

  A Naya midrange deck with a low curve, emphasizing early mana acceleration and efficient disruption to control the board and outpace opponents with aggressive creatures and enchantments.

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  Pako, Arcane Retriever & Haldan, Avid Arcanist

  A combo/control deck designed to exile and manipulate opponents' libraries and resources, using interaction and disruption to lock down the game while assembling a combo finish that involves effectively costing opponents’ decks.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  Prioritizing resolving Ristic Study was key to securing access to counterspells and maintaining control over the game flow.

• 2

  Choosing to advance one’s own game plan rather than immediately disrupting a threatening opponent’s play (e.g., Pontis’s Necropotence turn) allowed setting up a stronger board state for future turns.

• 3

  Using early mana acceleration artifacts and enchantments enabled faster deployment of key threats and combos, creating pressure on opponents.

• 4

  The interaction between dredge mechanics and land drops was essential for the Gitrog player to generate card advantage and set up their win condition.

• 5

  Passing up the opportunity to preemptively disrupt an opponent’s mana base or spells sometimes risked giving them enough time to execute a combo, highlighting the tension between offense and defense in cEDH.

Notable Cards

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  Necropotence

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  Mox Diamond

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  Wild Growth

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  The One Ring

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  Cabal Ritual

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  Mana Crypt

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  Birds of Paradise

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  Witherbloom Apprentice

Summary

The game opened with players setting up their board states carefully, with early mana acceleration and card draw spells enabling productive turns. Francisco, Fowl Marauder paired with Thrasios aimed to leverage blue-black-green value and reanimation themes, though limited in reanimation targets, focusing on card advantage and incremental value. The Gitrog Monster piloted a classic shell enhanced with Witherbloom Apprentice for additional win conditions, aiming to exploit land interactions and dredge mechanics. Pantlaza, Sun-Favored, played by William, focused on a Naya build with a low curve of spells, emphasizing disruption and efficient threats. Pako and Haldan operated a combo-oriented game plan designed to exile and disrupt opponents' libraries and resources, seeking to lock opponents out of the game by controlling their decks and mana effectively. A pivotal moment came with an early turn one or two Necropotence by the Gitrog player, fueling a massive card draw that set up a strong midgame. Meanwhile, the Pantlaza player used mana acceleration such as Wild Growth and Mox Diamond to quickly deploy threats and enchantments. The interaction around Ristic Study proved critical, as resolving it would allow for timely counterspell draws to handle threats from other players, particularly Pontis’s Necropotence-powered setup. The choice to either interact defensively or push one’s own game plan was a repeating strategic consideration, with the Gitrog player opting to prioritize their own acceleration and dredge synergy over immediate disruption. The game showcased a balance of combo potential, disruption, and value engines, with each player carefully sequencing plays to avoid early elimination while advancing towards their respective win conditions.